What summer desserts can I make that don’t require turning on the oven?
Beth, London
There are a few ways to approach this, Beth. First, says Nicola Lamb, the pastry chef behind the Kitchen Projects newsletter, you’ve got “the lazy assembly job”. That might involve “getting ice-cream and cookies from the local shop to make ice-cream sandwiches”, or, Verena Lochmuller adds, crowning a scoop with croissant crumbs and macerated strawberries – ever the maverick, the Ottolenghi development chef blitzes stale croissants in a food processor, then adds melted butter, sugar and a pinch of salt. “Turn that into breadcrumbs in a frying pan and, once cool, it goes super-crisp. It would also be lovely layered into ice-cream with jam.”
Other shop-bought items that are crying out to be accessorised are a chilled bowl of custard (“swirl in some macerated fruit, then crunch over amaretti,” Lochmuller says), or a good-quality pound or lemon drizzle cake: “Fancy that up with a dollop of yoghurt or creme fraiche [or even a mixture of both], some berries or ripe figs and maybe some toasted almonds,” she adds. “It will look impressive, but it’s really simple.”
